


A Friend With Speed is a Friend Indeed

by benwisehart



Category: Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Awkward Friendship, Awkward Friendship to Friendship Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Jonas and Tommy are friends, Jonas knows things, POV Jonas, canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-22 10:23:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9603833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benwisehart/pseuds/benwisehart
Summary: For a moment, Jonas wonders if it’s lingering paternal instinct from his predecessor, but he decides fairly quickly that that is not it. He considers that it might be pity, but surprisingly, he doesn’t feel sorry for Tommy, not like he used to. In the end it seems pretty obvious; they’re friends.





	

**Author's Note:**

> It's been five (5) years and I'm STILL REALLY UPSET that Tommy was the only Young Avenger who wanted to rebuild Jonas.
> 
> I have a lot of feelings about Jonas saving Tommy and Jonas having friends and Jonas in general and he may be dead but SO AM I
> 
> Also there's some minor feelings about Dad!Vision thrown in there as well idk

“Thomas Shepherd. Sixteen years old. Springfield, New Jersey.” 

“What’s his specialty?” Eli asks.

“According to the Avengers Fail-Safe Program, he’s a speedster.”

The Vision has had his eye on Tommy Shepherd for a while now. Ever since he started reading the former Vision’s program files to pass the time between games of chess with Jarvis, actually.  There are a lot of people in the program, some of them adults like Eli’s uncle. Nate sought out the ones who were closest, the ones he could find, the ones whose powers seemed the most useful, but the three—two, really—he actually managed to recruit were barely scratching the surface.

Of all the names in the program, though, Tommy Shepherd’s stood out. It was marked as important. One of the most powerful in the program, in fact, right up there with Wiccan, and he’s close, too, just over in New Jersey. It’s a wonder Nate never sought him out himself.

“What’s he gonna do?” Billy asks. “ _Outrun_ the Super-Skrull? Who’s next on the list?”

Well, it’s not really a wonder. Vision knows perfectly well why Nate never attempted to recruit Thomas. The others would feel the same way if they knew, which is why Vision isn’t going to tell them until they’re already there.

“Thomas can _also_ use his speed to accelerate and destabilise matter,” Vision prompts.

“What does that mean?” Billy asks.

Kate interjects. “It means he can blow stuff up.”

“Let’s go get him,” Billy says immediately.

~~~~~~~~~

With the aid of Billy’s powers the trip to Springfield does not take long, but even so, it is dark by the time they arrive. Vision can sense unease amongst the team—Billy in particular. Every minute they spend on this little side-quest is a minute they aren’t helping Teddy, but Vision does not falter. He knows what he’s doing. He’s read Tommy’s case file, and that boy is not spending another minute in this place if it’s the last thing he does.

Realisation dawns on Eli first, when the large concrete building comes into view beneath them. “Vision, what were you _thinking_?”

“Relax,” Kate says. “It’s just juvie.”

“ _Just_ juvie?” Eli asks.

“You wanted someone powerful.” Vision doesn’t even look over his shoulder.

“I wanted a Young Avenger, not a Young Master of Evil,” Eli mutters, as the group moves to land.

“Why is Thomas here?” Billy asks, quickly knocking the guards unconscious with his powers when they reach the ground.

“He accidentally vaporised his school,” Vision says dismissively.

Eli’s reply is filled with skepticism. “Accidentally?”

“According to his attorneys.” They’re probably giving him dubious looks behind his back, but Vision neither knows nor cares. He makes a beeline for the gate’s control pad, changing his appearance as he does so into an ageing security guard. “In this holographic form, I should be able to retrieve him without difficulty.”

“Vision, wait,” Billy says, his clothes changing to resemble a guard’s as well. “I’m going with you.”

“So am I,” Cassie says, shrinking down and jumping onto Billy’s shoulder. “Just in case.”

Vision tries not to let the fact that Cassie is coming too distract him. They’re saying something behind him now, but he is busying himself with the gate, scrambling the code in the box to force it open. 

Vision surprises himself with the amount of apprehension he feels.

He’s been planning this ever since he read Tommy’s file. Whatever the boy may or may not have done, he does not deserve what they’re doing to him in here, that much is painfully clear. Vision _hopes_ Tommy will agree to help them rescue Teddy, but there is no way of knowing for sure. After everything that’s happened to him here, Vision almost wouldn’t blame him for running away the moment they set him free. Or for turning on his captors.

That’s not the source of Vision’s anxiety, though. It’s…that _other_ thing. He has to know for sure. He has to see him in person. In a way, it’s a good thing Billy is coming in too. 

“So, what else do we know about Thomas Shepherd?” Cassie asks, sizing up once they’re inside.

“His parents are Frank and Mary. Divorced,” Vision says simply.

“What about his powers?” Billy asks. They’re reaching the cell now. “If he can blow things up, why hasn’t he escaped?”

“I assume his cell is equipped with a power dampener,” Vision says, putting it as mildly as possible. He reaches for the cell’s control pad. “But once I override its security settings, he should return to—”

He finishes overriding the security settings.

“—Normal—” 

The explosion was to be expected, but even Vision is caught off-guard by the force of it. Chunks of rock and wiring blow out from the wall, but most of it is reduced to dust, enough to fill the room. Vision loses sight of his companions as a loud siren starts blaring, and if Tommy is nearby, he cannot see him.

With that being said, Tommy is now the last thing on Vision’s mind. “Cassie!” he calls out, his calm demeanour disappearing immediately. He hears her voice a moment later.

“I’m okay. How’s Billy?”

Vision allows himself to relax, searching the cloud for Tommy while Billy and Cassie continue talking. 

“I’ll be fine…eventually.”

“Billy, you’re bleeding.”

“That explains why it _hurts_.”

“Vision, what did you _do_?”

“He set me free.”

The new voice sounds a lot like Billy’s, although it carries the hint of a Jersey accent. Vision steps back as the smoke clears, and then there he is. The boy with Billy’s face. 

Cassie notices it too, and then Tommy recognises _them_. Vision looks around for the guards while they go through some awkward introductions.

If Vision was expecting some kind of…emotional response, it does not happen, no more than it did with Billy. There’s nothing.

Maybe he was wrong about them. It doesn’t matter.

What matters is that Tommy Shepherd was being experimented on in this place, held under unlawful conditions suffering human right violations to an alarming degree, and now he is not. Because of him. Whatever else is about to happen, that is a good feeling. 

This is what Young Avengers do. It’s a very good feeling.

* * *

 

The old Bishop Publishing building lacks the comforts and facilities of living with the Avengers, but the Vision likes it here more. It has a homely feel, and he has his freedom. He can go out whenever he wants, and much as he enjoyed his chess games with Jarvis, the PlayStation and Wii Kate installed here are more his style.

The rest of the Young Avengers swing by when they can. Most afternoons and weekends, for training and some occasional team-bonding which usually consisted of junk food and hurling abuse at one another over video games. 

It’s a good life. It’s home.

The white-haired speedster he seems to have picked up as his roommate, though, he’s a little harder to comprehend. Tommy is an odd person to live with. Sometimes he disappears without warning for days at a time, and when he _is_ there, his sleep cycle is messed up; he takes a lot of naps throughout the day, and even at night never seems to sleep for more than an hour or two at a time without getting up to look for food. 

Which is another thing. Tommy always seems to be hungry, and Vision realises pretty quickly that the snacks the other Young Avengers bring are Tommy’s only source of food when he’s not at school. He never asks for help, though. Vision starts keeping the cupboards stocked himself. 

With all of that in mind, Vision has a sneaking suspicion that to any normal person, Tommy would be an insufferable roommate, but luckily, Vision is not a normal person. He doesn’t need to sleep, or eat. He doesn’t care if Tommy darts around at two in the morning and it doesn’t matter that the doormat is worn down with friction burns. 

They don’t talk much at first. It’s only after Tommy has been living there a full week that they have their first real conversation.

“So like,” Tommy says, plonking himself down in front of the television with a pot of instant noodles, “Why’d you rescue me?”

Vision looks up from Assassin’s Creed. He’s sitting on the couch across from Tommy’s chair. “Why did we rescue you?”

“Yeah.” Tommy slurps his noodles. “Billy mentioned it was your idea, getting me out of juvie. What was that about?”

“We needed help to rescue Teddy from the Super Skrull.”

“Oh, yeah, no, I know,” Tommy says. “I mean, why’d you rescue _me_. There were other people in the list, yeah?”

“I suppose so,” Vision says.

He doesn’t want to tell him that he read his juvie file. Tommy has not spoken about his experiences there, not since that first day when he attacked the guards, and if he would rather they didn’t know…Vision isn’t going to be the one to bring it up.

“So why not one of them? Someone closer, or more powerful or not in custody or whatever.”

“You were the most powerful,” Vision says, honestly. “And the closest, geographically speaking.”

“Okay.” Tommy looks pleased with that answer, mostly. 

“Alright.”

“Because I thought maybe you picked me because I was most likely to help you. Like, ‘cause I had nowhere else to go. And if you rescued me then I’d owe you.”

Oh. “Do you feel like you owe us?”

Tommy doesn’t answer. He slurps his noodles some more, and when he finally responds, he just says, “Thanks.”

After another moment passes, Vision puts down the game controller. “I honestly did not know whether you would help us, Tommy,” he says. “I did not know whether anyone on that list would help us. There were a lot of potential Avengers on it, but we were after a Young Avenger, and I believed that meant you.”

More slurping. “Guess we all lucked out, then,” Tommy says, putting his feet up on the coffee table, but Vision can detect a hint of some other emotion on his face, just for a second.

Vision hesitates. “For what it might be worth, I am glad you decided to stay.”

At this, Tommy frowns, and Vision is forced to wonder if it’s the first time anyone has told him such a thing. 

“Yeah, well…me too,” Tommy says. 

* * *

Jonas notices him the second he enters the bar, but he pretends not to. Tommy likes to think he’s subtle, why rain on his parade?

Tommy looks around the room for a brief moment before making his way to the bar, and Jonas stares unwaveringly at the glass he is currently drying. His presence can’t be a coincidence—he must know Jonas is here. He wonders if he’ll recognise him.

A few seconds go by. Tommy sits at the bar a couple of feet down from where Jonas is standing, twiddling his fingers, before he says, “You don’t look much like a _Lucy_ ,” he states, reading off Jonas’s name tag. “I’m thinking maybe a Felicia? Or a Roxanne? I dunno, dude, might take some brainstorming.”

Jonas does not return his appearance to normal—having their barmaid suddenly transform into a shiny red synthezoid might cause the management some level of distress—but he looks up from his work. “How did you know I was here?” 

“I got friends in high places,” Tommy says. “Specifically one friend. Who can use magic and shit. And who loves doing favours for me because I’m awesome.”

“Wiccan teleported you here, then?”

“Ew, no? Have some faith in me, I come here every day on my morning run,” Tommy says, turning to actually face him. His hair is blown back and messy like it always is when he’s run long distances, but he looks bright-eyed and cheerful. Jonas is _fairly_ sure he’s kidding about coming here every morning, but knowing Tommy, he would honestly not be surprised. “Anyway, you haven’t checked in for a while and lying low sucks.”

Of course. The Young Avengers are still under the radar back home—they never registered. Most of them, at any rate.

Jonas feels guilty for having left them at such a time, but he doesn’t regret making this journey. It has been more enlightening than he could ever have hoped—in more ways than he expected. “How is Cassie?” Jonas asks, his tone a little quieter. He knows she’s still with the Initiative, but he has been resisting the urge to follow her activities.

Tommy raises his eyebrows. “Oh, I’m fine, Vision, thanks so much for asking,” he says wryly. Then, adopting a lower, monotoned voice, continues, “It is great to see you, Tommy. I am so happy that you ran all the way to New Zealand to visit me. You are such a good friend.” Returning his voice to normal, Tommy waves a hand. “Oh, you.”

There’s a short pause. “Forgive me,” Jonas says, honestly. “It _is_ good to see you. Also, please call me Jonas.”

It’s the first time Jonas has said the name out loud, but he’s surprised by how easy it is. How familiar.

He has never had a problem with being “Vision”, of course. Vision is part of who he is—it always will be, and he would not have it any other way. It is his title, his legacy, but…it does not feel like his name. It was the name of somebody else, somebody whose operating systems Jonas shares but whom he has come to understand is a distinct entity from himself. He is not that person, and he is not Nate Richards either. He is somebody else with his own feelings, his own name.

Tommy doesn’t miss a beat. “Alright, Jonas, but if we’re all naming ourselves after sibling musical groups, I’m calling dibs on ‘Jackson’. Kate is posh so she’s probably, like, ‘Andrews’ or something. Who do you think Billy would be?”

“I’m not sure I’d know.”

“Hey, contractions. I love it,” Tommy says, grinning smugly. “So, _Jonas_ , what’ve I gotta do to get a drink around here? I’m thinking a scotch on the rocks or maybe a beer, but I’ll defer to your professional opinion.”

Jonas looks at him dubiously. “One coke, coming right up.”

“Oh, come on, the drinking age is lower here.”

“It’s not _sixteen_ , Tommy,” Jonas says, filling the glass with Coca Cola and handing it to him.

“Alright, Dad,” Tommy says wryly, accepting the glass and taking a long sip. 

“Please do not call me that,” Jonas says. “I am not your father.”

An awkward moment passes in which neither boy says anything. Realistically, Jonas knows that Tommy was making a joke just now, but it hits a little too close for comfort.

Tommy, for his part, doesn’t even realise what Jonas was talking about for a solid couple of seconds. When he finally gets it, his expression changes a little. “Didn’t think you were, dude. Don’t be weird.”

Jonas returns to drying glasses.

“Cassie’s fine,” Tommy continues after another pause, answering Jonas’s earlier question. “…We can’t, you know, talk to her without putting her in a difficult spot, but she’s okay. She’s training with the Initiative.” 

Cassie. Jonas thinks of her constantly these days. Rehearsing what he wants to say, changing his mind…a part of him doubts that she could ever love somebody like him, but he has to talk to her anyway or he’ll regret it for the rest of his life. “I am in love with her,” he says at last, his tone quiet and measured.

Tommy makes a slurping noise while drinking from his coke. “Cool.”

Jonas gives him a quelling look. “Is that all you have to add? ‘Cool’? I have been tormenting myself for months.”

“Come on, man, I already assumed you were in love with Cassie,” Tommy says. “You really want romantic advice from _me_? The longest meaningful relationship I ever had was in prison. You’re great. You’ll be fine.”

“Do you think she still loves Iron Lad?”

Realising that this is, in fact, a conversation that they’re having, Tommy lets out a sigh. “I never met the guy. I _have_ met you. You saved my ass, made me a Young Avenger, and your shitty jokes are great. You’re a catch, so get over Iron Lad and just be yourself. He doesn’t have a monopoly on, like, teenage existential angst or whatever the hell was so great about him.”

The glass in Jonas’s hand is squeaky now, and he realises he’s been drying the same one for over a minute. “I am glad you’re here, Tommy.”

“I know. I’m a delight,” Tommy says immediately. “…And I’m serious. You’re a good guy, and if Cass still likes Iron Lad after getting to know you, it’s ‘cause he’s different to you. That just happens sometimes. It’s part of being human.”

They aren’t what Jonas wanted to hear, but Tommy’s words make him feel much better than if he’d simply denied the possibility of Cassie having lingering feelings for Nate. Jonas feels like a fool for not realising it before now, but Tommy _is_ the only Young Avenger who never met Iron Lad. He’s also the only one who’s never compared him to Jonas. Whatever his reasons are, Jonas will always be grateful for that.

Tommy sips his coke.

“This journey of mine has been most informative in that respect,” Jonas says then, on the matter of being human. “But I’ve learned as much as I can away from you all. I think it’s time I came home.”

“You need a lift?” 

“No. Thank you,” Jonas says, smiling faintly. “No, I will find my own way back.”

“Alright.” The glass Jonas handed Tommy is empty now, and the other boy sits back in the barstool, joints popping as he stretches. “Just don’t take too long, ‘cause you’re the only one that can beat Eli at MarioKart and he’s starting to get insufferable. Thanks for the free coke.”

“It was not free.”

“Oh, no, I think I see a bridge collapsing right outside,” Tommy says quickly, jumping to his feet. 

Jonas shoots him another look. “You can owe me,” he says. 

“You’re the man, Jonas,” Tommy says with a wink. “I’ll see you around. It’s good to have you back.”

It occurs to Jonas as Tommy zips off that there’s a lot about him he still doesn’t know. His ‘longest meaningful relationship was in prison’, what was that about? Maybe he should ask the next time he sees him. 

He remembers the boy he first pulled out of juvie. Angry, defensive, constantly utilising the most destructive aspects of his powers as if to prove his own worth, and so, so close to being a killer. Jonas cannot help but wonder what stopped him that day. Tommy wanted to kill his jailers—that much was immediately clear. And while Jonas would never endorse killing…he did read Tommy’s file. He knew what they were doing to him in there. If nothing else, he could understand him wanting to.

The Young Avengers were there, of course, but if Tommy had really tried, he could have done it, Jonas knows he could. Those men would have been dead before the rest of the team were able to lift a finger, and Tommy could have run away, never to be seen again. 

He didn’t, though. Of course he didn’t. Tommy isn’t like that; all he needed was some friends, and a place to belong.

Jonas likes Tommy a lot. Enjoys his company in a way that goes beyond simple partnership in a fight. 

For a moment, he wonders if it’s lingering paternal instinct from his predecessor, but he decides fairly quickly that that is not it. He considers that it might be pity, but surprisingly, he doesn’t feel sorry for Tommy, not like he used to. In the end it seems pretty obvious; they’re friends.

* * *

“I am going to talk to Cassie,” Jonas says, eyes fixed on the T.V. screen as he rotates the Wii remote.

“Yeah?” Tommy chews his bottom lip in concentration, staring at the television as well. “You need me to come with?”

“No, of course not,” Jonas says, sounding put upon. “I was simply telling you.”

“It’s just that you’ll have to sneak into an Initiative facility in order to do that.”

“I was not planning to just walk in. I will disguise myself.”

“‘Kay.” Tommy feels around next to him for the bowl of chips he’s been busily making a mess with, grabbing a handful and shoving them into his mouth. 

It hasn’t been long, but Jonas has felt Cassie’s absence from the team since his return. She has a way of brightening up even the darkest of times…

Jonas remembers their encounter with the Runaways. What was it that Chase Stein said? _The prettiest, most perfect girl in the world._

That is true. 

He’s not the only one missing her, either. Kate is unusually quiet—Cassie is her best friend, and not having her around is hard. The whole team feels like it’s not quite whole.

Cassie’s decision to leave does not feel like a betrayal, at least not to Jonas. He could not dream of resenting her for it. He understands, even though he he would not have made that decision himself. Cassie lost her father in a situation involving another hero…and she was tired of fighting other heroes, many of whom she grew up with.

“Can I ask you something, Tommy?” Jonas says.

“Sure.”

“You have—had a relationship before, yes?”

A crashing-sound comes from the television, and Tommy’s half of the screen flashes with “Game Over” as he turns sharply to look at Jonas. “Oh, no man, please trust me, you don’t want to go down this road. Whatever you’re about to ask me, ask Teddy. Hell, ask Eli.”

“I wasn’t asking for advice,” Jonas says, even though that was his intention. “I was just…curious.”

Tommy lets out a sigh. “It wasn’t really a relationship,” he admits, grabbing another handful of chips. “It was more like…making the best out of a bad situation. Probably wouldn’t’ve lasted, but they don’t always need to to matter.”

They start the game again, Tommy sitting back in the couch to get more comfy. There is a thoughtful expression on his face as he shuffles around, sitting on one of his legs, and neither of them speaks for the next few minutes. 

“It’s just—”

“Oh, here we go.”

“Be quiet, Tommy,” Jonas says. Then he pauses. “…I do not want to be making the best of a bad situation with Cassie,” he says at last.

“Well, you’re not in _prison_. I mean, not yet. So you’re off to a better start than me.”

“I suppose.”

More than anything, he doesn’t want to be a stand-in for somebody else. He doesn’t want her to love him for something he is not. He doesn’t want to be second best.

Perhaps this _is_ something he should talk to someone else about. Billy and Teddy are the picture of a happy, loving relationship, and while Kate and Eli still seem to be on and off, at least they have experience, and both know Cassie better than Tommy does. 

Jonas has always appreciated Tommy’s candour, though. In a way, he feels a level of kinship with him. They are vastly different people, from vastly different backgrounds, but there is familiarity in the manner with which Tommy struggles to find his place in the world. 

Tommy doesn’t talk about himself much, and Jonas has never asked him to—mostly because he knows enough to know why. Right now, though, he finds himself wishing that he did. There is something about Tommy that speaks of a resignation to loneliness—a feeling with which Jonas is all too familiar, albeit for different reasons. 

The television lets out another crash and announces that Jonas has lost the game.

“For what it is worth,” he says, lowering the remote, “…I value your opinion on this matter.”

“Didn’t realise I gave one, but thanks,” Tommy says, restarting the game. “You want your horoscope too?”

“No, thank you. I’d prefer a rematch.”

“Alright, sore loser.” Tommy looks thoughtful while they wait on the loading screen. “I’m not gonna give you _advice,_ but if I was, I’d say that…you know, if your biggest concern is that you’re not human enough, you should probably remember that worrying if people will like us is more or less the unifying human experience. So, um, don’t let that be the thing you’re worried about.”

“Do you worry if people will like you?” Jonas can’t help but ask.

“Only when I want free stuff,” Tommy says without missing a beat, although he still looks thoughtful. 

Jonas smiles to himself, picking up the Wii remote again. “Good to know.”

* * *

“Hey, Jonas, can I ask you something?”

The inn at Mount Wundagore has been quiet for hours. The rest of the Young Avengers have gone to bed, but Jonas is still sitting alongside what remains of the Doombot that had, until recently, believed it was Wanda Maximoff. His face is calm and pensive, lost in thought, but he notices immediately when Tommy enters.

Jonas looks up at the question and across the room Tommy leans against the bench, staring at the Doombot as well. “Of course.”

“Do you think she’s my mom?”

Jonas answers immediately. “The Doombot? I doubt it."

“Not the _Doombot_ ,” Tommy says in a scandalised tone. “You know what I mean. The Scarlet Witch, the real one.”

Right now, Jonas has very little doubt that Tommy and Billy are Wanda Maximoff's lost children, but it surprises him how much he simply _wants_ them to be.

“Do _you_ think she is?” Jonas asks instead of answering, and Tommy yawns.

“Come on, dude,” he says. “I asked you first.”

“I think she is,” Jonas says honestly. “But it doesn’t matter what I think.”

“Even if we find her,” Tommy says, “…it’s not like she can stick around when everyone wants to kill her. Doesn’t actually make much difference if she’s my mom. I don’t care.” His voice is strained.

Jonas does not believe him for a second, but he doesn’t call him out on it. Instead, he returns his gaze to the robot on the table, his expression odd.

“He loved her so much, you know,” he says, when a lingering moment has passed.

“Who did?” 

“The Vision,” Jonas says. “The old Vision…I can still feel it when I think of her.”

“You said you didn’t feel anything for her,” Tommy says, frowning.

“No, well, I don’t,” Jonas agrees. “But it’s a difficult feeling to describe. I am not that person, but his memories are part of who I am. When I view those memories, I remember what he felt. The day they were married…the day they bought their house…the day you and your brother were born…they were very happy, once, a long time ago. Happy and uncomplicated and so full of love.”

Tommy hesitates. “Do you think he knew—when he put me and Billy in the Avengers fail-safe program, did he know who we were? Did he think we were…those kids?”

It’s a question Jonas has spent many hours pondering himself. He at least knows how to answer. “He noticed. He noticed your names, and your powers, and the face you shared despite being born to different families,” he says. “He noticed. And a part of him wanted you to be those kids.” 

A part of him wanted it so, so badly. 

“He was a logical person,” Jonas continues. “He included you in the program because you seemed like ideal candidates, nothing more. But…I believe he wanted to investigate. I think he would have, if he had the chance, but Wanda regained her memories only a few days later.”

“And then she killed him?”

“She forced him to attack the Avengers, and they killed him,” Jonas says, wondering if Tommy actually knows what happened. “Losing his autonomy was his greatest fear, which Wanda knew well. If he were here now, I’m not sure he could forgive her for it.”

“She wasn’t herself, though,” Tommy says, almost defensive.

“Oh, I know,” Jonas says. “But she targeted him on purpose, I’m certain of it. All the Avengers lied to her, but Vision was the one she should have been able to trust. He continued to conceal the existence of you and your brother even after his emotions were restored. Even when he and Wanda began to rekindle their relationship, he never revealed what happened…I think he felt guilty. When Wanda found out the truth by accident, she not only had the loss of her children to come to terms with, but that deception as well.”

“I never knew that,” Tommy says, quietly.

“She was wronged. She never had the chance to grieve in the proper way,” Jonas says. “That chance was taken from her by the people she loved. You mustn’t think badly of her.”

“I don’t,” Tommy admits. “I really don’t. It’s just so stupid, this whole thing. It should’ve been different. It shouldn’t have been like this.”

Considering how much like an adult Jonas is speaking, he has never felt more like a child. 

The old Vision may have had something wise to say about how it didn’t help to dwell on what should have been. The old Vision might have sworn to make things right. Jonas doesn’t know if they can make things right, and he’s afraid to see how this particular journey will end. He doesn’t know what to say. There are a great many things that he doesn’t know.

“No,” he agrees. “It should not.”

* * *

 

Tommy should not be the one hanging onto this hard drive, but until now, he’s been the only one who could. 

The one he has is not the only copy of Jonas’s backups. Tommy’s _fairly_ sure the Avengers have one somewhere, but he already knows they’re never going to do anything with it. As far as they’re concerned, the Vision has already come back. What possible reason would they have to build another one when the _real_ one is alive and well?

And Tommy resents him for that, for being alive when his friend is dead. He hopes he never has to meet him so he can go on pretending that this is somehow his fault. 

He’s been to Florida a couple of times now, but…it’s still sinking in. Cassie is alive. Cassie is back. 

They’ve yet to have a proper reunion—Eli still lives in Arizona, and with Billy, Teddy and Kate still active in their respective team-ups, it’s hard to co-ordinate the six of them all being together in the same place at the same time. That doesn’t matter, though. They’re making do for now.

Cassie is already there waiting in a booth when he arrives at the little cafe she frequents, and she greets him with a hug. “Hi, Tommy! You look like hell,” she remarks almost immediately, pushing her hair back after the gust of Tommy’s arrival causes it to blow everywhere.

Tommy raises his eyebrows. “You try running one thousand miles without messing up your eyeliner and then we’ll talk about looking like hell, Giant Girl. Here,” he adds, shoving a large pastrami on rye from their favourite restaurant near the warehouse into her hands. “Something from home. I had one too but I ate it on the way.”

“Oh my god,” Cassie breaths, clutching the sandwich happily. “You’re a lifesaver, Tommy. Also I already ordered since I figured you’d hate waiting,” she adds, sitting down in the booth again and passing him his milkshake.

“And _I’m_ the lifesaver, okay," Tommy says, sitting opposite Cassie and taking a long sip of the shake while Cassie unwraps her sandwich from its foil.

It’s the third time he’s come to visit her in Miami, but they haven’t spoken about Jonas before now, and he doesn’t know how to bring it up. Under the table, he holds tightly to the bag he brought the drive in while Cassie fills him in on the latest adventures of Ant-Man and Stinger. 

“…So we managed to stop the whole robbery before it even happened,” she finishes, covering her mouth while she chews. 

“Nice work,” Tommy says. “It’s great you’ve got your dad to team up with,” he adds, honestly. As somebody who’s been working alone for the past few months…he knows how isolating it can be. 

Cassie smiles, taking a sip from her own shake. “It _is_ great. It’s everything I used to dream about when I was a little girl,” she says. “I miss you all, though. I wish I was back in New York.”

“Want me to fetch the others?” Tommy offers immediately. “I can do that. Give me five minutes to round them up, they won’t know what hit them.”

At this, Cassie gives a faint laugh. “Next time. But I’d really like that…” She lets out a sigh, stirring her shake with the straw. “Working with Dad’s been great— _so_ great—but I really do miss being a Young Avenger. I miss my friends, and I—”

She falls silent, but Tommy guesses what she was about to say. She continues a moment later.

“I really miss Jonas,” she murmurs quietly, putting her chin on her hand and diverting her gaze out the window. 

As soon as she says it, Tommy is surprised by how much sorrow he feels. Not just for Cassie, but for himself, too. 

He hasn’t talked about Jonas much since he and Cassie died. The team fell apart…everyone had to leave…it wasn’t fair. _It wasn’t fair_.

Tentatively, Tommy reaches across the table and takes Cassie’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “I miss him too,” he says softly, reaching down into his bag and pulling out the hard drive. 

It looks fairly innocuous. If not for the large piece of masking tape onto which Tommy had scrawled Jonas’s name, one could never have guessed what it contained. Cassie pulls her hand away when she sees it, surprised, and Tommy carefully passes it to her. 

“I think he would’ve wanted you to have it,” he says, and Cassie picks it up, gingerly placing her hand across the top.

“I had no idea we still had this,” she says.

“It’s from before, you know, before we fought the Sons of the Serpent,” Tommy scratches his neck, not meeting Cassie’s eyes. “We didn’t have any way of rebuilding him, but…the Avengers weren’t really going to do anything, so I kept it.”

Cassie brushes a tear out of her eye before returning her hand to the drive, holding it between both palms. “Thank you.”

“Hey,” Tommy says, resting his hand on top of hers. “…He was my friend too.”

And then Cassie lets out a sob, clutching the drive as tears flow freely down her face.

Tommy doesn’t know what to do. He’s never known what to do. He spends every waking moment in way over his head, so right now, he does the only thing he can, and he listens. He doesn’t make an empty promise or tell Cassie that it’s okay, but he squeezes her hand, and hopes she knows she’s not alone. 

When Cassie finally speaks, she wipes her face with a napkin, sitting back in her seat. “I can’t stop thinking about how after Nate came back…” she hesitates, “I was so excited…and Jonas, I never got the chance to talk to him after that. He died thinking I only cared about Nate.”

“Cass, that’s _not_ true,” Tommy says. “Don’t do that to yourself. He knew you better than that.”

Cassie lets out a shaky sigh, staring out the window.

“He loved you, _so_ much,” Tommy tells her. 

“I know he did.” Cassie looks down at the drive in her hands. “Do you want to know what the worst part is? Somehow, he knew that this was going to happen. Back in Transia, he told me so…if we somehow managed to bring my dad back, he was worried that the cost might’ve been _me_. I just never—I never really thought he’d be _right_. Or that it might be him too.”

In that moment, Tommy would trade everything he owns just to know what he can possibly say to make this better. 

There is nothing, though. Some things are just shitty and there’s nothing you can do about it. Sometimes you lose the people you care about, sometimes the world doesn’t care, and sometimes all you can do is hold tight to whatever you have left—whether it’s a memory, or a little box full of data, or a friend who has even the smallest possible chance of understanding what you’re going through. 

When they finally leave the diner, they hug again. Cassie buries her face in Tommy’s shoulder and starts crying for another few minutes. Tommy holds her tightly, and realises he’s crying too, a few stray tears making their way down his face no matter how hard he tries to pretend they’re not. 

He misses his teammate, and it hurts, and it’s not fair, and it _shouldn’t be like this_ , and it _sucks_. But at least it can suck in good company. 

“He kind of saved my life, you know,” Tommy says, when they finally let go of each other. “He was a hero.”

“He recruited you from the program because he wanted to get you out of juvie,” Cassie tells him, wiping her face. “That was the only reason. He told me so.”

Aw, damn it. 

Tommy already knew that, if he's honest with himself. Jonas was not a good liar.

“Well, of course he did,” Tommy says, after a moment. And then, “You gonna be okay, Cass?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I am, eventually,” Cassie says, holding the hard drive to her chest. “Are you?”

“Yeah.”

When Tommy is finally running again, starting the trip back home, he thinks about what he said to Jonas that day, before he went to talk to Cassie. _They don’t have to last to matter_.

At the time, it was his own contrived attempt at sounding sophisticated, but he thinks about it now, and it brings him comfort.

The Vision who called himself Jonas would not have cared if the Avengers forgot about him. He cared about what he left behind. Jonas was created by accident out of a time-travelling suit of armour and some old code, but he was so much more than that. He was a kid who answered the call when the world needed him, to fight the foes no single hero could withstand. Whatever else he might have been…he _was_ a hero. He did everything he could to make the world a better place, for whatever time he had in it. He saved lives, including Tommy’s. 

He was a Young Avenger.  And a friend. 

**Author's Note:**

> All comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!! Thank you for taking the time to read!!


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